As you know at In the Cove we are all about shopping local, being local and living local. For some time now (about five years) the ITC family has been trying to have their NAB accounts transferred to the local NAB Branch. We want to be able to walk into the Lane Cove NAB and deal with our local NAB. When we first set up our accounts, ITC was working in the city and it made sense to have our NAB branch in the city. Now ITC is fairly and squarely located in Lane Cove. Is it too much to ask to have our NAB Lane Cove as our local branch?!
Last time we went to speak to someone about our home loan and funding for possible renovations, we were told that the local branch did not have the authority to sign off on our application. However as a favour to us they would deal with it locally, but in the future, we need to speak to the branch in the city.
We have always found the staff at the local Lane Cove NAB Branch to be very pleasant and accommodating. We were disappointed when they took away the two ATM machines (as that was in ITC’s view a competitive advantage to NAB in Lane Cove).
Last Friday night ITC received the following email from NAB (addressed to Mr ITC even though we have joint accounts). As you can see, the email invites you to provide feedback to NAB so they can address complaints and improve. Within hours of receiving this email, ITC wrote back to NAB Feedback with specific issues and my thoughts on how NAB could improve ITC’s customer service (and by the way how many attempts do you need to transfer all our accounts to NAB Lane Cove). It felt good that I had a forum to explain my issues and looked forward to receiving a reply and my points being addressed.
In true impersonal style, I received the following reply to my email on Saturday at 9.17 am.
Thank you for taking the time to send us your feedback.
We will use your feedback to understand where we need to improve, be more transparent and to help us do the right thing by all our customers.
We’re working with regulators to implement changes to our industry to make it easier to do business with us.
At NAB, we want to understand you and get it right, the very first time. If we hear about things going wrong, and it’s our fault, we’ll own it and make it right.
We look forward to continuing to support you, and if you have any specific concern, please don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected] or call us on 1800 152 015.
Yours sincerely
NAB Resolve
An automatic reply to specific concerns is not good enough. Why give customers the expectation that you are listening when you are not? This is not exceptional service. NOTE: Since receiving this unhelpful Email reply, ITC rang the branch in the city and was told that in fact we could speak to our local branch about home loans. A personal reply to my feedback would have given me this information.
I now know why people find dealing with a mortgage broker a much easier and more efficient option, then having to deal with the bank themselves.
We used to have a personal banker, not any more. I have run a small business for years and never been contacted by the bank about my business needs (unless I have contacted them first) or offered any assistance. The counter staff told me I was being charged extra for depositing money over the counter and I should use the business express deposit forms. I asked for some to be issued to me. After three attempts the deposit forms were sent out. It only took two months…
All I want is for the local branch to be the local point of contact for both personal and business. Is that asking too much?
Do you have a local issue you would like help with? ITC is here to help just email us at [email protected]
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